February 20th, 2011

“That workers can still negotiate from a position of strength somewhere in the US is simply unacceptable to the right, and that’s what this is about… The Right has made great political progress getting Americans to ask the question: ‘How come that guy’s getting what I don’t have?’ It’s the crux of the politics of grievance. Progressives need to get Americans to ask a different question: ‘What’s keeping me from getting what that guy has?’ At least part of the answer is the Right’s decades-long assault on private sector workers’ ability to organize, and the latest battle is being waged in Wisconsin.” — Alternet 2/19/11“When I was out at manufacturing plants talking to blue collar workers across the state earlier this week, it reinforced to me that in many of those cases they’re paying anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of their healthcare costs. Most of them don’t have pensions and those that have 401Ks, many of them have seen that the contributions from their employer has been suspended in the last year or two as the economy has made it difficult in order to preserve jobs.” – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (In other words: “We’ve already succeeded in taking your pay increases, benefits, and rights away. So why should ‘they’ get to keep theirs?”)

Here’s The Last Word’s 2/18/11 report (Gov. Walker’s comment is at the beginning). As Lawrence points out, Gov. Walker’s press statement completely ducked the question about why he’s still pushing to bust the unions since they’ve agreed to his budgetary demands.